Free Republic

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce purports to be a Republican-leaning organization, but it actually ranked Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid better than Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) in its new scorecard for 2014 votes. Last year, the Chamber gave Sessions a 57 percent ranking. He voted four times with the big business group, three times against and once didn’t have a recorded vote. Reid, on the other hand, voted with the Chamber five times and against it three times, earning a 63 percent rating. “Some may be surprised by the scores, but when you look at the bills the Chamber prioritized...

Several prominent Republicans are trying to push immigration restrictionist groups to the fringe of the debate by challenging their conservative credentials and attacking their stance on population control, The Washington Post reports. GOP heavyweights like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and power broker Grover Norquist are backing an effort to inform conservatives about the history of groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), NumbersUSA and the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). (SNIP) Those organizations are now the leading conservative voices against immigration, both legal and illegal, and have received the endorsement of Republicans like Senators Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and...

RUSH: Investors.com is the source for the story that Obamacare premiums are jumping 23% this year, even after subsidies. "President Obama has talked a lot in recent months about how health care inflation has moderated in recent years, and he always manages to credit Obamacare for the result. (SNIP) CALLER: I wanted to mention that it's amazing right now that tens of thousands of STEM educated Americans, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, computer science folks and all this are being laid off by Microsoft, by different companies, and are having to retrain their -- RUSH: Ho, ho, ho, ho, hold...

Southern California Edison (SCE) IT workers replaced by H-1B contractors have become the latest Exhibit A in Congress for reformers of the visa program. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who has long advocated for changes to the H-1B program to protect U.S. workers, said the Edison layoffs illustrate how some employers "are potentially using legal avenues to import foreign workers, lay-off qualified Americans, and then export jobs overseas. "I was shocked by the heartless manner in which U.S. workers were injured," said Grassley in a Senate floor speech Wednesday. (SNIP) "The sponsors of the bill claim it will 'boost our competitiveness...

Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions (R-AL) is expected to be selected by his Republican colleagues to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration. (SNIP) At the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), Janice Kephart serves as Director of National Security Policy. Before Sessions hired her, Kephart testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, alongside her CIS colleague Steven Camarota against the Senate bill. CIS vehemently opposes immigration, including legal immigration. (SNIP) They also promote the myth that immigrants are stealing American jobs, a line that Sessions repeatedly echoes. (SNIP) Sessions Tanked His Own Federal Judge Nomination Over Accusations of “Racial...

Today the Club for Growth PAC, Senate Conservatives Fund, and Madison Project released the results of a poll done by Basswood Research in the Utah Senate race of likely Republican Primary voters. The poll finds incumbent Senator Mike Lee in an extremely strong position for re-nomination. Senator Lee is endorsed for re-election by the Club for Growth PAC, Senate Conservatives Fund, and the Madison Project. Among the poll highlights: Senator Lee has a +65 favorable rating, with 76% of Utah Republicans having a favorable opinion of Lee and only 11% having an unfavorable opinion. By contrast, Senator Orrin Hatch, while...

RUSH: Yesterday in Washington, the Christian Science Monitor breakfast -- (interruption) You know what's coming? Senator Trent Lott, former Senator Trent Lott, Republican, Mississippi, was the guest, and he was speaking about immigration reform and told a story about immigration reform and the Republicans' attempt to do it in 2007. LOTT: My phones were jammed for a week or two. Rush Limbaugh gave out my phone number. We lost that vote in 2007 on a procedural vote. I thought we were gonna be able to win that. But over the weekend Rush Limbaugh labeled it amnesty, and labor got a...

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on Tuesday night said there is growing support in the Senate to deny President Barack Obama the funding he needs to executive his immigration plans, and said Obama’s veto of that legislation would not be supported by the American people. Sessions said on the Mark Levin Show that Republicans will be looking to pass a government funding bill that prevents Obama from using any money to implement an amnesty program for millions of illegal immigrants. Sessions admitted that passage of this language might have to wait until next year, when Republicans take over the Senate.

On the most important issue of our time – an issue that directly affects our communities, our schools, our economy, and our security – Michelle Nunn has sided with President Obama, amnesty activists, and billionaire special interests over the citizens of her own state. ##She has pledged to vote for an immigration bill [S.744] that will reduce your wages, increase unemployment, and place enormous new burdens on your family.

Virginia 7th Congressional District Republican candidate Dave Brat’s campaign is hosting an outdoor fundraising rally that will feature Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions and conservative radio host Laura Ingraham. The Brat campaign announced the event Tuesday. The September 27 rally will take place in Beaverdam.

Authorities are investigating the deaths of 20 dogs at Green Acre Kennel, in Gilbert, Arizona. The place had billed itself as a "Doggie Disneyland" promising plenty of land for dogs to run free with no cages. To Ryan Ingraham and his wife, it sounded like a great place to board their two black Labradors while they took a vacation. Ingraham had contacted MaLeisa and Todd Hughes, owners of the business, two months ago. Then about a week ago, he decided to take the dogs to the Hughes' house for a trial run.

Austin Flake and his wife were watching 17 dogs at their boarding house near Gilbert, Ariz. when one of the dogs chewed through a power cord that connected to the air conditioning where the animals were housed. According to a report on Fox10 in Phoenix, the power went out and that was that – the dogs died in the heat. The described scene was nothing short of gruesome. In one account, a female owner of one of the dogs came to pick up her pooch. “We went out of the front and he carried my Daisy who was lifeless,” she...

Californians are being let down by the failed policies from Washington. Folks there are more concerned with scoring political points than solving problems. And I’m working every day to fix it. That means working across party lines on important issues like fixing our broken immigration system, expanding water storage and delivery. And standing up for our veterans and their families. It means working to stop the wasteful spending, stop the crushing tax hikes and giving job creators the certainty they need to grow their businesses and the economy.

Sal Russo, co-founder of the Tea Party Express, announced his support for amnesty on Wednesday, reversing his organization’s statement from a year ago that it would not take a position on immigration reform. If you take a look at Russo’s background, this isn’t exactly the revelation that some in the media are making it out to be. What’s interesting, though, is the dichotomy between Russo’s position and the principles of the organization he helped to create. The Tea Party Express bills itself as anti-establishment, but Russo’s immigration proposal is nearly identical to the principles pushed by GOP House Leaders --...

"There are 11 million people in our country today who are not hear legally. We have to figure out what to do with them. Are we going to send out Paddy wagons, load them all up and ship them out. No. But we do need a path to legal status for those that are in the country illegally."

The American Legion says it is opposed to trying to tie immigration into the annual defense policy debate, calling it an unacceptable “amnesty” and dealing a serious blow to Republicans desperate to pass some sort of legalization of illegal immigrants ahead of November’s elections. Several Republicans say they want to attach a small legalization that would grant an explicit chance at citizenship to young illegal immigrants willing to join the military.

"Superficial" "A source close to the Senate negotiations [says] that two senators who voted against the background check bill would vote for it after minor, superficial changes." - Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC, May 6, 2013ACTION: Senators who voted pro-gun last month are under intense pressure - by Senate Democrats and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s hit ads - to switch their votes.  We need to keep applying the heat and let them know that gun owners are ready to help in any Senate campaign, no matter which state, to defeat ANY SENATOR who votes for gun control.LEGISLATIVE UPDATE FROM WASHINGTON, DC. It’s...

Facing similar slams on immigration, Republicans like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have flip-flopped and swerved to the right on the issue. But in an interview with Mother Jones Tuesday, Flake held fast to his previous views on immigration and suggested that he'll campaign as a social moderate—regardless of any blowback from the right. In 2006 and 2007, Flake co-authored the STRIVE Act, an immigration reform bill that included a pathway to legalization for undocumented immigrants. When asked on Tuesday by Mother Jones whether he'd still support a pathway to legalization, Flake soft-pedaled his response but defended his previous views on...

We have forgotten what money is. Money is really easy to understand, but most people have no idea what it is. We all understand that barter is an inefficient way to foster economic growth and money is a good thing for the economy. But money isn’t a piece of paper. Let me create a kind of fable to illustrate this. Please bear with me here. Think of this as an amusing weekend read. (snip)

WASHINGTON – The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee warned Monday that he would seek to slow Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's path to confirmation unless senators get full access to her files as a Clinton administration aide. "We're heading to what could be a train wreck," Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama said. "I don't believe that this committee can go forward with an adequate hearing" without all records from Kagan's tenure as a White House counsel and then domestic policy adviser to President Bill Clinton. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary Committee chairman, last week set hearings to...